The Unfaithful Meeting
by bethanyyerinn
Summary: A Zutara. Aang and Katara visit Firelord Zuko, but Aang is unexpectedly called back to the United Republic, leaving Katara and Zuko alone together...


**Disclaimer: I own nothing.**

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Katara packed up her bag, getting ready to leave Air Temple Island to visit the illustrious Fire Lord.

"Katara, you almost ready?" Aang asked from the door. "Momo is getting antsy."

"Yeah, just about. Why did you want to see Zuko again?"

"Why not?" he said with a grin. That was always a good enough reason for Aang, Katara thought with a smile.

"Are you sure Republic City will be ok while you're gone?"

"Of course. Toph has it all under control."

"I'm not sure how I feel about her being Chief of Police, Aang."

"Toph is great at beating people up though!"

"But this isn't just beating people up, Aang, this is administering justice. And 'Toph is irritated by what you just did' is not a reason for sending someone to jail."

"Sokka's there too. He can keep an eye out."

"Oh yes, the new 'Representative of the Water Tribe' is very good at stopping Toph from doing what she wants. He'll think it's funny."

"Iroh is there too, visiting from Ba Sing Se."

"He'll be too busy with his tea."

Aang sighed and approached Katara. "You worry too much, Katara. We are going to visit Zuko, I'll juggle some fireballs, and we'll come right back. Nothing's going to happen in the three days we'll be gone. And have a little trust. Sure, Toph is reckless, but I would trust her with my life. More than that, I would trust her with yours. She can handle Republic City."

Katara only nodded, but she wasn't as good at optimism as Aang was. Then again, nobody on the planet was. "Let's go before Appa leaves without us," she said, grabbing her bag.

"Hey, Appa would never leave without me, would ya, boy?" he asked as Appa came into view.

"AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA."

"See? He loves me," Aang said, jumping up and hugging his head. He was twenty-four years old and he still did that. Katara laughed without meaning to. Aang grabbed Katara by the waist and twirled gracefully into the air and landed in the saddle.

"Remember when you were too small to carry me?" Katara asked.

"Yeah, when I was twelve. My growth spurt came pretty fast."

"You mean when you were nineteen?" she sniggered. "And maybe, soon, you'll be able to grow facial hair too."

He fingered his beard, something he just started growing recently. His hair was somewhere between the peach fuzz stage and the real beard stage.

"What's wrong with my beard?" Aang asked.

"Nothing, oh mighty Avatar. Yip yip," she added, and Appa was on his way.

They had left so that they would show up in the fire nation at sunrise and they could spend the day around town and go to Zuko's palace that evening.

Katara hardly remembered the ride because she fell asleep in the saddle, her head on Aang's lap.

When they arrived on the outskirts of town, half of the fire nation—the half that was happy Aang ended the war, Katara presumed—was there to greet them, along with Zuko.

"I thought you didn't have time until tonight!" Aang said as he grabbed me and hopped off of Appa. Aang put his arms around Zuko.

"I have plans today, yes, but I had time to welcome you."

"You don't need to stay with tradition, my friend," Aang said, his hand on Zuko's shoulder. "We know our way around."

"I always have time for you," Zuko assured him with a small smile.

"Aw, how cute," Katara said. Zuko turned to her and rolled his eyes.

"Good to see you too," he said, hugging her as well.

"I always have time to tease you," she said as he let go.

"I wouldn't have it any other way," Zuko said with a smirk. "But I do have a meeting to be at, so I will see you later today."

"See you then," Aang said, and they both waved as the royal precession faded into the distance.

"Where do we go now?" Katara asked.

"Everywhere," Aang said with a grin.

Hours later, Katara and Aang were on their way to the palace. As always, she felt slightly nervous. Why should going to the palace make her nervous? She ignored it as she always did.

Just then, a messenger hawk landed on Aang's shoulder. Katara knew that was a bad sign. Even worse, when he opened it, she recognized the handwriting. She would know Sokka's writing anywhere.

_Aang (Twinkle-Toes),_

_Toph told me to write 'twinkle-toes' and when I said I did, she knew I was lying from the scratching of my pen. Who does that?_

_Anyway, sorry for interrupting your meeting with the Emo Lord, but we've got some unhappy fire colonists over here, claiming that we can't turn the area into a fifth nation without their permission. Toph figures that if you come in and do your Avatar thing, they have no choice but to shut up._

_You can go right back to Fire Lord Grumpy when you're done._

_Sorry._

_With the manliest of love,_

_Sokka_

"Guess we won't see Zuko then," Katara said.

"Well, I won't today, but why don't you stay? I'll be right back tomorrow, whether Toph needs me or not."

"Are you sure?" she asked.

"Absolutely. Say hi to the Emo Lord for me."

"Of course," Katara said. Then she gazed at Aang for a few moments. "Be careful," she added.

"I'm always careful," he said, kissing her.

"I mean it."

"This isn't Fire Lord Ozai, this is some fire nation colonists. I'll be fine."

She just glared.

"I'll be careful," he said quietly. She nodded and he made an air scooter and was gone.

Katara nearly wanted to scream at her stomach, to tell it to stop knotting up nervously—much worse than it usually did—as she walked up the steps in to the castle of the Fire Lord. She had gone to visit Zuko a million times, so this was really no different than usual… except for the fact that usually Aang, Sokka, Toph, or Iroh went with her—or any combination of the four. This time, however, she ascended the steps alone.

She entered the throne room a moment later, no longer affected by the difference between what it used to look like and what it had been transformed to now. Actually, the room had not been changed at all, but the customary flames that used to roar in front of the throne were now never lit. The difference this time in the room, however, was that the throne was empty. She was confused, and turned to leave, but there he was, barely a foot behind her.

She jumped violently and Zuko laughed a little. "Hey," he said with an awkward wave.

"Do _not_ sneak up on me!" Katara hissed.

"It was too easy."

She huffed in irritation.

"Where's Aang?"

"United Republic."

"He's not here?" he asked. Katara wasn't sure what she heard in his voice, but it was somewhere between panic and excitement.

Katara smirked at his melodramatic reaction. "That a problem, Fire Lord?" she asked, hand on her hip.

"No it's—no," he said, tugging on the collar of his shirt.

"Where's Mai?"

"Kyoshi Island, visiting Ty Lee."

Katara nodded, not wanting to overreact like he had. Why, oh why, did she have butterflies? "How's she been?" she asked, just for something to say.

"Flexible and overly enthusiastic, I would guess," he said dryly. "We don't talk much."

"Her aura too pink for you?"

"I think it's more that my aura is to gray for her."

Katara laughed a little as Zuko smiled and they lapsed into a silence.

"You look really nice," Zuko said, looking at the ground like he usually did when he complimented Katara.

"It's been too long," Katara said.

He looked up and they locked eyes. "I missed you."

Katara blushed, wanting to kick herself in the shin when she did. This was Zuko, for crying out loud! He was whiny and depressing and handsome and interesting… Oh shit.

"Aang and I were planning on coming out earlier, but he's been busy, trying to start the fifth nation and all."

"You could have come out with Sokka… or alone."

"I probably won't make a habit of visiting alone," Katara said.

Zuko took a step forward. "Why?" he asked quietly.

Katara's breath caught in her throat. When did he start looking so much… older? At twenty-eight, he had definitely grown out of his baby face. She had never really noticed. Then again, so had she.

"Because…" she said, but she had forgotten the reason, getting caught in his golden eyes. What was she, a teenager all over again? This was ridiculous. "I should probably go," she said, making her eyes drift to the floor with some effort.

"Why?" he repeated. Before she could respond, Zuko took another step so that the patch of floor she had been looking at was now covered by his feet. She looked up and he was close—too close.

"Because of that," she said, trying to look anywhere but his eyes—but then she ended up looking at his lips instead, which didn't help the situation much.

"What do you mean? Because of what?" he asked with a smirk. Zuko, being smooth? It was unheard of. Maybe Katara was just so enraptured in the conversation that she imagined he was being smoother than he actually was. Whatever was happening, though, it was working.

"Zuko…" she started, still trying very hard to look at the floor, but now he was so close that all she could see was his chest, where the top of his shirt was open, revealing pale skin.

Then his fingers were under her chin, pulling her face up towards his. Their eyes locked once more. She wanted to tell him that he needed to stop, but the words wouldn't come. There was a fire in his eyes that she found irresistible—fire had frightened her for her entire life, because of what the fire nation had done to her mother, to her life. But then Zuko showed her a different side to fire: lively, unpredictable, invigorating.

In this case, very, _very_ sexy.

She didn't mean to close the space between his lips and hers, but once she did, she couldn't pull away. Now the fire that had been in his eyes was there beneath her lips. His arms immediately were against her back, pressing her body ever closer to his, and she found her fingers twining in his hair—she had never had hair to run her fingers through.

Kissing Aang didn't feel this way, she couldn't help but think in bewilderment.

That was when she let her lips part, nipping at his lip and exploring his mouth.

Was this what passion was like? With Aang there was love, pure and strong, but there was nothing like this all-consuming flame, this burning need for closeness that was anything but pure—but just as strong. Maybe even stronger.

Zuko separated then, and before Katara had time to ask, he was pulling her out of the throne room and through the corridors of the palace until they reached a room. She had never been in his bedroom before, but she could hardly examine it much, since his lips were on her again as he tugged her to the giant bed. He nearly shoved her onto the bed and she, for some reason, found it refreshing. Nobody in her life was rough with her and now she couldn't help but find that it was extremely sexy. She tugged on his shirt, about to pull him down onto her, but hesitated—then found herself removing it entirely. She just couldn't stop herself from what she was doing—and even worse, she didn't want to.

Then, a minute later, her Earth Kingdom garb was left abandoned on the floor and her skin was truly against his. It was too warm, as if he had a fever. Was it a fire bender thing or was it a Zuko thing?

His lips were everywhere and her breathing was just barely in check—when he backed away, getting off the bed entirely.

"Zuko?" she asked, not bothering to conceal her naked body as she looked questioningly up at him. His eyes stayed gazing into hers, even so.

"You don't want this," he said.

"What do you mean?" she asked. "Did I not seem eager?" she added dryly.

"No, that's not what I meant."

"Then what did you mean?"

"You want me to have sex with you. But I want to make love to you."

She felt her eyes widen a little as she considered the meaning of these words.

"I never knew you were a romantic, Zuko," she said, sitting up and smirking. He didn't smile, so she sighed and got up too. "You think I'm using you? You think I could do that to you?"

"You know how I feel about you. I always have, ever since the day with the pirates, the necklace."

She couldn't help but feel a slight flash of anger, as she always did when she thought about the time when Zuko was nothing but a villain to her, but the anger went away as quickly as it came. "And you think I don't have feelings for you too?"

Now it was his turn to look surprised.

She reached up tentatively and put two fingers on the scar on his face. His eyes closed. "Do you remember Ba Sing Se?"

"How could I forget?" he asked weakly, his hand leaning into Katara's.

"I almost used my spirit water on your scar. Because I saw something in you. I didn't know what it was, but I knew deep down that you deserved better than what you had. Even then, I felt something for you. That's why I was so hurt when you betrayed us. If I hadn't trusted you, just for that moment, I wouldn't have cared. It cut so deep because I thought there was something there between us. And I was right. I could pretend that there's nothing, but what's the point?"

His eyes opened. "What about Aang?" he asked, barely even a whisper. "He… he would be heartbroken."

Katara's hand dropped and she backed up a step. He _would_ be heartbroken, she thought guiltily. He was a wonderful man, always kind and loving to her. And he was fun, someone she never stopped laughing with.

But Zuko… he brought up feelings in her that she had never experienced before. She felt like a different person when she was with him, but hearing Aang's name aloud like that broke the spell.

Wordlessly, Katara picked up her clothes and threw them on. Zuko had turned around while she did this, though since he had already seen her body now, she didn't see the point.

He turned when she was clothed again, his shirt on too.

"For so long, you were the face of the fire nation to me," Katara said.

"I remember," Zuko mumbled, absently touching his scar.

"But for someone I considered evil, you really are a good person," she finished.

Zuko sighed, looking at the ground. "Which is turning out to be bad for me right about now."

Katara stared at him as he stared at the floor, still absently touching his scar.

She walked up to him again and moved his hand from the scar. "It's who you are, Zuko. Don't be ashamed of it."

He looked up at her and smiled just the slightest bit.

She promptly turned and walked out of his room, her eyes burning inexplicably as she went.

She wasn't sure whether her watering eyes were caused by guilt for betraying Aang or guilt for walking out that door. The thought that it was even a question was what made the tear fall.


End file.
